Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

Women who suffer from fertility issues often use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to realize their wish to have children. However, IVF has its own set of strict administration rules that leave the women physically and emotionally exhausted. Feeling alienated and frustrated, many IVF users turn to internet IVF-centered forums to share their stories and to find information and support. Based on the observation of Dutch and Greek IVF forums and a selection of 109 questionnaires from Dutch and Greek IVF forum users, we investigate the reasons why users of IVF participate in online communities centered on IVF, their need for emotional expression and support, and how they experience and use the information and support they receive through their participation in the online community. We argue that the emotional concerns expressed in such forums should be taken into account by health care ethics committees for IVF-related matters in order to promote more patient-oriented care and support for women going through IVF. OO

In a special issue of ''Ethics and Information Technology'' (September 2012), various philosophers have discussed the notion of online friendship. The preferred framework of analysis was Aristotle's theory of friendship: it was argued that online friendships face many obstacles that hinder them from ever reaching the highest form of Aristotelian friendship. In this article I aim to offer a different perspective by critically analyzing the arguments these philosophers use against online friendship. I begin by isolating the most common arguments these philosophers use against online friendship and proceed to debunk them one by one by pointing out inconsistencies and fallacies in their arguments and, where needed, offering empirical findings from media and communication studies that offer a more nuanced view on online friendships. I conclude my analysis by questioning the correctness of the application of the Aristotelian theory of friendship by the critics of online friendship: in my view, the critics are applying the Aristotelian theory to online friendships in a rather narrow and limited way. Finally, I conclude my thesis by proposing that in the rapidly changing online landscape, a one-size-fits-all application of the Aristotelian theory on friendship is not sufficient to accurately judge the multitude of relationships that can exist online and that the various positive and valuable elements of online friendships should also be acknowledged and analyzed.

Deploying web-based Personal Learning Environments, PLEs, in educational settings is
becoming a main trend in technology enhanced learning. By combining the main elements of the
student’s control and the components of technology-based teaching process, a framework for
designing enhanced learning activities is proposed. The proposed framework assists teachers to
design appropriate learning tasks to be done by students to support their learning process through
developing PLEs by making use of relevant web tools. The framework promotes a learning-bydoing
approach which can improve digital competencies of students and allows teachers to acquire
deep understanding and situated knowledge about content, technology, teaching and learning
processes.

This paper reports on the results of the first phase of an ongoing research project in design-oriented education in informatics in Dutch upper secondary education. Our study focused on eliciting and categorizing the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with respect to design of digital artefacts of the informatics teachers participating in the research project. Our results suggest that teachers' PCK on design can be typified in terms of two aspects, namely (i) teachers' knowledge about objectives and goals of designing digital artefacts by students, and (ii) teachers' knowledge about ways to assess students' understanding and performance. As to (i), we distinguish an orientation towards more conceptual objectives, and one towards more practical objectives. Also with respect to (ii), we found two types of teachers' knowledge, one focused on process-based assessment and another on product-based assessment.

While supporting regulatory learning processes in work environments is increasingly becoming important, there is not a clear picture of the interaction between self- and co-regulatory processes performed by learners in workplace e-learning systems. In this paper, by following a design-based research methodology, we develop a theory-based framework to support the design of an e-learning system aiming at supporting learning regulatory processes in work environments. Then we evaluated the relationship between self- and co-regulatory processes conducted by 177 users in a prototype built upon this framework. The results suggest that there is a significant relationship between self- and co-regulatory learning processes.

Although current and upcoming web technologies offer all kinds of new opportunities to support student-centered learning, there does not exist yet a clear roadmap to integrate these technologies into teaching and learning processes. In this paper a model is introduced in order to develop Personal Learning Environements (PLEs) consisting of Web2.0 tools and to integrate them into teaching and learning processes. Next to this, an example implementation in the context of a secondary school is described. Two questions framed this study. First, how do students integrate PLE tools into their learning activities? Second, what is the students and teacher’s perception of the PLE project? Results show, among others, that web2.0 tools should be thoroughly integrated with active teaching and learning methods in order to realize a student-centered learning environment. It was also concluded that students need enough time and teacher’s facilitation in order to get learning and pedagogical value o...

In design-based education, students use scientific concepts to inform their artifact-making endeavors. On the other hand, artifactmaking activities are meant to deepen students' conceptual understanding. However, no strategy has been described that explicitly links conceptual development and artifact-making endeavors in computer science design projects in an authentic way. To fill this gap, in this 'work in progress' study, we developed an instructional model for fusion designing and conceptual learning in CS education. A key component of the model is the 'intermediate design products' which play a critical role in connecting designing and conceptual learning. The model served to develop exemplary lesson materials meant to enhance students' algorithmic thinking. The materials were implemented and evaluated in four classes. The results suggest the model provides opportunities to improve students' algorithmic thinking. Furthermore, intermediate products turn out to be promising inputs for (formative) assessment of conceptual development in design projects by capturing and revealing students' misconceptions about basic CS concepts.

Measuring performance and impact is a high priority for impact-driven organizations; it enables them to advance their agendas. Doing so in a timely and consistent manner helps organizations to steer their strategies and achieve their goals. We present the case of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA). This international non-profit has recently begun implementing Performance Measurement (PM) across its operations. Like many other impact-driven organizations, SFSA has encountered complexities and challenges. We summarize the lessons so far and reflect on success factors. This paper offers insights for like-minded organizations that are starting or planning to introduce PM. It also calls for collaboration to harmonize approaches and better understand impact. *For contact details, see page 8

Nowadays, the conditions (socio-economical, environmental and technological) in which organizations operate and projects are executed change continuously. Therefore, sustainability is becoming a prime driver in organizations and projects, making the relation between project management and sustainability crucial. This paper presents an assessment of the current scenario of sustainability implementation in projects. It confronts the existing literature and exploratory interviews executed to different people related to projects and PM. Findings are that although sustainability implementation in organizations is a common goal; definitions, drivers and methods change. It is necessary to describe, improve and further develop sustainability implementation in PM practice.

We would like to thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the financial support to develop this study. This research has been done in partnership with SCOPEinsight, Sahel Consulting in Nigeria, Sundy Merchants in Tanzania, and Tradecare Africa in Ethiopia. Disclaimer Although every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this report is up-to-date and accurate, errors and omissions may occur. The report is provided on an "as is" basis and is not intended as a substitute for the reader's own due diligence and inquiry. NewForesight do not guarantee or warrant that the report or the information contained in it is complete or free of error and accept no liability for any damage whatsoever arising from any decision or action taken or refrained from in reliance thereon, nor for any inadvertent misrepresentation made or implied. This publication is based on research funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Conceiving of nuclear energy as a social experiment gives rise to the question of what to do when the experiment is no longer responsible or desirable. To be able to appropriately respond to such a situation, the nuclear energy technology in question should be reversible, i.e. it must be possible to stop its further development and implementation in society, and it must be possible to undo its undesirable consequences. This paper explores these two conditions by applying them to geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (GD). Despite the fact that considerations of reversibility and retrievability have received increased attention in GD, the analysis in this paper concludes that GD cannot be considered reversible. Firstly, it would be difficult to stop its further development and implementation, since its historical development has led to a point where GD is significantly locked-in. Secondly, the strategy it employs for undoing undesirable consequences is less-than-ideal: it relies on containment of severely radiotoxic waste rather than attempting to eliminate this waste or its radioactivity. And while it may currently be technologically impossible to turn high-level waste into benign substances, GD’s containment strategy makes it difficult to eliminate this waste’s radioactivity when the possibility would arise. In all, GD should be critically reconsidered if the inclusion of reversibility considerations in radioactive waste management has indeed become as important as is sometimes claimed.

This article offers a novel reading of the criticisms of sex robots put forward by the Campaign Against Sex Robots (CASR). Focusing on the implication of a loss of empathy, it structures CASR's worries as an argument from moral degradation centered around the potential effects on sexbot users' sexual and moral subjectivity. This argument is subsequently explored through the combined lenses of postphenomenology and the ethical phenomenology of Emmanuel Levinas. In so doing, it describes the type of human-technology relations that sexbots invite, identifying alterity as a central feature. It also highlights how alterity, responsibility , and subjectivity are intimately connected. However, that connection is distinctly different in sexual circumstances, making current versions of Levinasian roboethics largely inapplicable for the ethics of sexbots. To overcome this, the article delves into Levinas' phenomenology of Eros and identifies voluptuousness as a type of enjoyment of the Other that is different from the enjoyment invited by current sexbots and is compatible with responsibility. Based on this, the article provides examples of how this phenomenology of Eros can inspire the design of future sexbots in ways that alleviate some of CASR's concerns.

The development of nuclear energy technologies in the second half of the 20th century came with great hopes of rebuilding nations recovering from the devasta-tion of the Second World War or recently released from colonial rule. In coun-tries like France, India, the USA, Canada, Russia, and the United Kingdom, nuclear energy became the symbol of development towards a modern and technologically advanced future. However, after more than six decades of experi-ence with nuclear energy production, and in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it is safe to say that nuclear energy production is not without its problems. Some of these problems have their origins in the very materiality of the technolo-gies involved. For example, not only does the use of highly radioactive materials give rise to risks for the current generation (e.g., in the potential for disaster when reactors melt down) but high-level radioactive waste from nuclear energy production presents a serious intergenera...

The theory of technological mediation aims to take technological artifacts seriously, recognizing the constitutive role they play in how we experience the world, act in it, and how we are constituted as (moral) subjects. Its quest for a compatible ethics has led it to Foucault’s “care of the self,” i.e., a transformation of the self by oneself through self-discipline. In this regard, technologies have been interpreted as power structures to which one can relate through Foucaultian “technologies of the self” or ascetic practices. However, this leaves unexplored how concrete technologies can actually support the process of self-care. This paper explores this possibility by examining one such technology: a gamified To-Do list app. Doing so, it first shows that despite the apparent straightforwardness of gamification, confrontation and shame play an important role in how the app motivates me to do better. Second, inspired by Ihde’s schema of human-technology relations, it presents diffe...

Conceiving of nuclear energy as a social experiment gives rise to the question of what to do when the experiment is no longer responsible or desirable. To be able to appropriately respond to such a situation, the nuclear energy technology in question should be reversible, i.e. it must be possible to stop its further development and implementation in society, and it must be possible to undo its undesirable consequences. This paper explores these two conditions by applying them to geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (GD). Despite the fact that considerations of reversibility and retrievability have received increased attention in GD, the analysis in this paper concludes that GD cannot be considered reversible. Firstly, it would be difficult to stop its further development and implementation, since its historical development has led to a point where GD is significantly lockedin. Secondly, the strategy it employs for undoing undesirable consequences is lessthan-ideal: it relies on containment of severely radiotoxic waste rather than attempting to eliminate this waste or its radioactivity. And while it may currently be technologically impossible to turn high-level waste into benign substances, GD's containment strategy makes it difficult to eliminate this waste's radioactivity when the possibility would arise. In all, GD should be critically reconsidered if the inclusion of reversibility considerations in radioactive waste management has indeed become as important as is sometimes claimed.

Recent events have put the acceptability of the risks of nuclear energy production technologies (NEPT) under the spotlight. A focus on risks, however, could lead to the neglect of other aspects of NEPT, such as their irreversibility. I argue that awareness of the socio-historical development of NEPT is helpful for understanding their irreversibility. To this end, I conceptualize NEPT development as a process of structuration in which material, institutional and discursive elements are produced and/or reproduced by purposive social actors. This conceptualization is used to structure an analysis of how irreversibility arose in the first decades of NEPT development in India, France and the USA, and how some NEPT have been reversed or partially reversed. Lastly, two general conditions for reversible NEPT are formulated based on this analysis.

To date, much of the work on Responsible Innovation (RI) has focused on the 'responsible' part of RI. This has left the 'innovation' part in need of conceptual innovation of its own. If such conceptual innovation is to contribute to a coherent conception of RI, however, it is crucial to better understand the relation between responsibility and innovation first. This paper elucidates this relation by locating responsibility and innovation within Emmanuel Levinas' phenomenology. It structures his work into three 'stages', each described in terms of their leading experience and objectivation regime. This analysis identifies a need for constant innovation of political and technological systems, originating from and motivated by our responsibility to others. It also shows the relation between responsibility and innovation to be threefold: foundational, ethical and structural. These insights could help RI to avoid some pitfalls of 'regular' innovation, and provide moral grounding for important aspects of RI.